Go To The Exchangers

 Go To The Exchangers

 A Word on Being Ready For The Lord’s Return

 

“Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed:

And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.

 His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed:

Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.

Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.

For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.

 And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”— (Matthew 25:24-30 KJV)

Here we have a frightening verse that basically says that when He returns the Lord is going to expect an accounting.

The Lord has given each of us our lives, talents, gifts  and the possessions in our lives, which He expects us to use to build the Kingdom. He wants people saved. He wants us to love others and help them. He wants us to love Him and have a relationship with Him. As best we can with the guiding of the Holy Spirit.

In the verses, the Lord gives talents to His servants, and then leaves. These are gifts. The scriptures says, “He gave gifts unto men” He has given gifts unto all men, whether saved or not. Salvation is just one gift. Our life is a gift. Our possessions are gifts, Our talents are gifts. We are to use what He has given us to turn to Him and build the Kingdom.(Eph. 4:8)

He comes back and finds that his servants have gained profit from the gifts. This profit would be souls or people helped. There is no other real medium of exchange between worlds.

The first 2 servants succeed and are rewarded. They used what they had to help others in Jesus name and to get souls saved and lives changed.

But, let’s focus on the last one. This servant says,”I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.” (see verse above)

There’s so much here. First, the fact that the servant says that the Lord is a hard man, proves that there is no relationship. This servant doesn’t know the Lord. Jesus said “my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matt. 11:27-30)

I could stop right there. Because people try to use this prophecy as a way to prove that people can lose their salvation. 

But, this guy never had it. He never knew the Lord. He never trusted the Lord. He never had faith in the Lord. He did not have the Holy Spirit.

There are many people in Church who have never been born again. They have never confessed Jesus as their Lord. They just call themselves Christian. They might do good things, but the fact that they have never been saved means that those good things are still defiled with evil.

But, let’s go on because this guy never even tried. He buried the talent. He was afraid. Jesus warns us “Fear Not”.  Fear is one of our greatest enemies and will keep us from knowing Christ.

If this guy had even tried, he might have woke up and found Jesus. He might have seen something that made him turn. “Taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8)

The Lord rebukes him, and says, “You could have given the talent to the exchangers (or bank) and I could have gained profit in interest.”

What does that mean?

Well let me break it down. I’m not trying to speak for the Lord. But, it might sound like this.

“I know you were afraid, and didn’t know what to do. But, you could have at least given and supported people and ministries, who were doing the work. But, you didn’t even do that.”

The exchangers are workers or ministries doing the work. If you cannot go yourself, then support those who are.

Then, the servant is cast into outer darkness and there is wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Understand that The Lord is the light of the world. Apart from Him is darkness.

Hell/the Lake of Fire is a garbage dump outside the city of God where all unclean and evil things must go.

Satan, the fallen angels, demons, unclean spirits, and those who have not been washed in the Blood of Jesus must go there.

They cannot enter the city lest they corrupt it with the plague of Sin for all eternity.

This servant was never washed. He did not have a clean garment. He had no oil in his lamp. He was a goat.  ( Matt.22:1-14, Matt. 25:1-13 ,Matt. 25:31-46

He never knew the Lord. When we know the Lord, the Holy Spirit guides us to care about the things the Lord cares about. We become burdened with it. We will respond. We will serve somehow. Even if it’s only giving to others who are serving.

The worst thing to ever hear is…

“Depart from Me, I never knew you.” (Matt. 7:23, Matthew 25:31)

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Forgive And You Shall Be Forgiven

 Forgive And You Shall Be Forgiven

 Walking in the Spirit is tough.

 

 

Jesus said,

For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:

¹⁵ But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.— Matt. 6:14-15

Jesus tells us this in explanation of the Lord’s Prayer.

 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

¹⁰ Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

¹¹ Give us this day our daily bread.

¹² And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

¹³ And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

This is the basic prayer outline that our prayers should follow. Praising God, Praying for our needs, forgiveness and protection. While also forgiving others, and praying for them.

God wants us to forgive others the same way He forgives us.

I know its hard. There are people who do not deserve our forgiveness. We want them punished. We want them to suffer as we have suffered.

But, we do not deserve forgiveness either, and we all deserve to suffer as Jesus suffered for us.

That’s Grace.

When we get God’s grace, we also give grace.

But, this sounds like works. It sounds like we are forgiven because we forgive and that is a work, not grace. Not faith.

No.

When we are saved, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us and He grows us into a place where we become more forgiving. Where we do forgive those who have hurt us. Yes, even the worst ones.

It’s not easy. But, it does become easier.

Trust me, God is working to help you.

You might think you are doing good. You’re at Wal-mart after church and you’re happy. Then you run smack dab into the people who betrayed and hurt you, and God shows you every stitch of hatred in your heart for these people. He lets you see the unforgiveness you hold.

This is not about salvation. But, if we are saved there will be a battle.

There will be anger and the hate and the remembrance and the shock. But, there will also be the desire to do what God says.

It might not happen immediately, but there will be a call for prayer to forgive. A battle to get your mind under control to Christ. A battle against the demons that are trying to keep us in unforgivenenss. (Gal. 5:17, 2 Cor. 10:5, Eph. 6:10-18)

But the fact that we are having this battle, is proof that we are with the Lord. We never would have had that battle before. We certainly wouldn’t pray for them or desire to forgive.

That breaks our heart as we realize how much God has forgiven us.

That’s the point.

We can pray.

“Lord I hate them. But you want me to love and forgive. I want to. I want to do what you would have me to do. Please help me. I forgive, as best as I can and know how. Please help me. For it’s in Jesus name I pray, Amen.”

You can be real with God. He knows the truth. he knows your heart.

Our efforts in this are part of our relationship with Him. It’s part of Walking in the Spirit. (Gal.5:16)

It’s not about perfect obedience, it’s about giving ourselves to the Lord.

Trust me. If these people deserve revenge, God will give it. If they deserve divine punishment. They will reap what they sow. (Rom. 12:19, Gal. 6:7)

But, it will be from God. It will be righteous, and it will be designed to save them or grow them. Because God loves them too.

Unsaved people do not care about forgiving others. Our desire to do so, shows our salvation. It shows our walk with Him.

²¹ Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?

²² Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.—Matt 18:21-22

Our forgiveness is to continue. It’s not a one and done, because people are fallen and will hurt you again. They will fail and sin again. (Rom 3: 10-20)

It’s a fact.

Remember, God forgives us the same. God is not a God of second chances. He is a God of infinite chances. He is a God of relationship and growth.

He calls us into His program of forgiveness.

Do not grow weary in well doing. God will bless us for it. (Gal. 6:9)

What does forgiveness look like?

How much forgiveness do you want God to give you?

Imagine it?

That is what it looks like.

Does this mean we are to be door mats and let people walk over us?

No. The scripture gives us remedies for dealing with people. (Matt. 18: 15-17)

But, in the midst of that we still forgive and let it go.

“If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.“—Rom 12:18

This verse shows that we can try everything we can to live in peace, but sometimes its not possible.

We pray about it, and give it to the Lord. He will move.

We do what is right in dealing with it.

We love and forgive and let it go.

But sometimes we must withdraw from people.

“But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolator, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.“—1 Cor. 5:11

If a person calls themselves a Christian and are saved they will also be seeking peace. They will be seeking to do right. If not, we can back off from those people. But we still pray for them, love them and forgive them. We still desire some level of reconciliation.

Like God has reconciled with us.

It’s not easy.

Let the Lord guide you. (Prov. 3:5-6)

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He Rose For Our Justification

  He Rose For Our Justification

 We are justified in Christ

 

There was only one law in the beginning.

Just one.

“But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”–Gen. 2:17

People want to act like God is some eternal killjoy, who is just hovering about ready to strike you down with furious wrath and bolts of lightning.

But, in the beginning there was only ONE law.

And Satan in his rebellion used a serpent, which by the way, was not a snake. It was a dragon, or as we like to call them, a dinosaur. (Rev. 12:9)

He used it to tempt the first couple, in order to get them to fall.

He tricked Eve into breaking the one law. But, Adam was not tricked. He knew exactly what he was doing. (1 Tim. 2:14)

He knew it was wrong and chose to listen to his wife instead of listening to God. (Gen. 3:17)

Adam was Satan’s target. Adam had the dominion of the Earth. He was the one who needed to fall. (Gen. 1: 26-28)

Why Adam chose to ignore God’s Law is not given to us. Adam probably explained it away, some how. I tend to think He loved Eve and did not want her to die alone. Or perhaps he did not want to be alone again, if she died after eating the fruit.

It’s hard to say, but when the first couple ate of the fruit they quickly discovered why God had warned them. God’s laws are typically designed to protect us.

Something changed in them. Their eyes were opened. God had created everything good. There was no death. But, now there was evil present. Death and evil, flooded into the world. (Gen 3:6-10)

Adam and Eve had fear, where none had existed before.

Evil was contained somewhere else, and now came upon the humans. It corrupted them and now corrupts all of humanity ever since.

This brought death. Death is separation. Remember, we are eternal beings. Death is not an end. We have no end. We are made in God’s image. We are eternal spirits. Death means separation. We die physically and are separated from our loved ones on Earth. We then die spiritually and are separated from God and our loved ones who are saved, forever.

Why?

In order to contain the evil. Hell/The Lake of Fire is a quarantine. It exists in order to keep evil from destroying all of eternity. It was created for Satan and his angels. It is a garbage dump outside the city of God, where all filthy things are thrown, in order to not corrupt Paradise. (Matt. 25:41, Rev.22:14-15)

Since Adam chose to follow Satan instead of God, He gave up the dominion. That is why Satan is the god of this world. You go into bondage under whoever overcomes you. If you give your authority to another, they own you. (2 Cor 4:4, 2 Pet. 2:19)

And that is the state we live in.

We are born into this world, totally corrupted. Filled with fear and evil, facing eternal separation from God and all things good.

We cannot do right. No matter how hard we try. We are under the control of Satan and his demonic hordes who whisper into our minds and get us to do whatever evil deeds they want. Seeking to rob us, kill us and destroy us, because God loves us, and the demons hate God. They seek to hurt God by hurting us.

And Satan sits and accuses us, day and night (Rev. 12:10)

He accuses us to God.

“Look at these creatures you created. They are filthy. They don’t love you. If they loved you they would have stayed with you. They are scum. Destroy them. Kill them. Punish them. They do all manner of evil, and mock you. Destroy them.”

But God loves us, and He had a plan.

It was a plan started at the foundation of the world.

A plan that grew and spread and remained hidden from the enemy.

It started with Faith, in Abraham.

A way to be righteous. (Gen. 15:6, Rom. 4:3, Gal . 3:6, Jas 2:23)

Then, it moved to the Law, in Moses

In order to show us that we are sinners and cannot obey God. (Rom. 3, Rom. 7)

A law that so happened to also allow for cleansing our disobedience through sacrifice.

Then, finally God himself came to Earth in the form of Jesus Christ to save His creation from Satan and the sins that keep us in bondage.

Satan thought that Jesus was here to teach us to obey. He thought Jesus was teaching us to follow the Law, which the enemy had already corrupted with human philosophy, traditions of men and doctrines of devils.

It would be a failed mission. Humans cannot obey. No matter how hard they try. Satan had made sure of that by corrupting us in the Garden. We are totally depraved.

Then, Satan and his demon princes killed Jesus. They used their human slaves in government and religion to do it. (1 Cor 2:6-8)

He thought he won. He thought he had finally won.

He might have even accused us before God again. Just like he accused Job. (Job chapter 1 and 2))

“Look at those creatures. They murdered your Son. They obeyed me, not you and killed you. Why do you love them? They spit in your face.”

And God smiled.

Because through His death, He had saved us.

So, that anyone who desires it can be free from the bondage of Sin, Satan and Death.

All they have to do is turn to God and ask Him to save them in Jesus name. (Acts 2:21)

But, that wasn’t the end.

God was not finished.

Because Jesus, was the lamb without blemish. He was not tarnished by evil or sin. He was not worthy of death or separation. He was the perfect sacrifice.

And death could not hold Him.

God Himself died for us and rose from the dead to prove that we are saved and justified. ( Rom. 4)

We do not have to answer to the accuser. We do not have to fear death or evil. We do not have to face wrath. We do not have to face Hell or The Lake of Fire or separation from God. We are clean, righteous and justified in Christ.

We are saved by God’s grace, through faith.

Because He, Himself came and set us free in His death and rose to prove it.

All we have to do is turn to Him by faith and ask.

And we are made righteous and justified forever.

We will be with Him in Paradise.

Where “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. (1 Cor 2:9)

He has restored that which was lost. And He will continue to restore all of it, back to what He originally created. (Matt. 18:11, Rev. 21, Rev. 22)

Praise Jesus

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The Lesson Of Job

 The Lesson Of Job

 Abide in the Lord

 

We all face trouble in life. It is something we can all agree upon. No matter who you are, something bad will eventually come to cause you trouble. Something will break your heart. Something will break you down. Something will make you crazy, concerned or confused.

When we look at the story of Job in the Bible. We see a lot of spiritual truth that we can apply to our lives.

Now, understand that trouble is relative to you. Just because someone on the other side of the Earth is in extreme poverty with nothing. Doesn’t make your problems any less concerning. Just because someone else is dying of some terrible disease, doesn’t make your troubles any less destructive to your life.

Evil is evil, in whatever form it manifests. We need to stop belittling peoples troubles and start solving problems. It’s very possible that if we solved the petty problems, they would not become the huge problems. If we cared about the person who can’t afford simple things, we might also care about the person in total poverty and solve the problem. If we care about the person with a flu bug, we might also care about the dying man, or even prevent disease from growing.

I say this because Job, faced terrible tribulation. He lost everything he owned, His children were all killed, and his health was attacked. On top of that, his wife was against him.

Just because Job’s troubles were really bad, doesn’t mean yours are not concerning to you. The Bible often gives us the most extreme vision of things so that we will see that our troubles are also able to be overcome. The same faith can overcome all of it. The same God is with us in all of it, no matter how big or small.

In the book of Job, Satan comes to God and asks to test Job. He claims that if Job is mistreated he will turn from God.

That is the focus of the story and that is our focus. Nothing else matters.

 It doesn’t matter how bad the trouble was. It doesn’t matter if God allowed it. It doesn’t matter if Satan did it, or God did it. None of it matters.

Because Job had no clue. He just knows he is having trouble. His whole life has been upended. We even see toward the end of the book that Job is confused and has questions. It’s ok to have questions, doubts and confusion. But, Job turned to God. Job stayed with God. That’s the point.

When we face trouble, we often have no clue what’s going on. We might think it’s nature. Or God is punishing us or the devil is attacking us. We might know exactly what we did or didn’t do. We might be suffering because of something done to us by people who claim to love us.

None of it matters.

The answer for all of it is the same. Turn to God.

Pray to Him, ask Him to save you and help you. Listen to His guidance.

Job said, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him” (Job 13:15)

He turned to God and trusted Him. Even if God chose to kill him, Job knew God was good and had good reasons. He trusted God, and continued walking in the way that he was walking in his life, because he did not see that he had done anything wrong. And he hadn’t. God will let you know.

The whole point of the story is that Job turned to God and stayed with Him. No matter how bad. No matter what philosophies, or good intentions from friends. No matter how much a friend called him a sinner. No matter how much pain and humiliation. Even when his wife, was led by Satan to say, “Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die.”

Job stayed with God. He trusted God and turned to God.

Now understand that I am not talking about going to church. You can go to church all you want and still not know God. You can be the greatest member of your church and still be lost.

Do you know Him? Do you trust Him? Turn to Him.

This can be seen in the Garden when Satan through the Serpent, tempted Eve. He caused her to doubt God’s promises and His goodness. (Gen. 3)

That is the the devil’s favorite tactic. To get us to stop trusting God and to not reach out to Him. Once that’s done, we have no real hope or real help. We are defenseless and powerless.

This is why God brought the curse. It is designed to cause us to turn to God.

When Adam ate of the fruit all humanity gained a corrupted nature through him. The only solution is to turn to God for salvation and help. The Curse causes us to seek that help, if we are willing.

There is a time coming says the Lord, that will be worse than any other. He tells us to abide and endure to the end with Him. When persecution mounts and the terrors seek to destroy us. Stay with the Lord. Despite the temptations all around us. (John 15:4, Matt. 10:22, Matt 24:13

Always turn to God. Turn to Him in everything, and He will save you, lead you, grow you and know you.

You have a choice. Do not let trouble or the enemy drive you away from God. Turn to Him and let Him work.

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Destroying The Image Of God

 Destroying The Image Of God

Satan's Insanity 

 

If you’ve read the Bible, you know that we have a spiritual enemy.

Satan fell sometime after creation. We do not know exactly when, but it was because he desired to be “like the most High”. (Isa. 14: 12-17)

He wants to be God.

This desire led to his fall and corruption.

It is believed that he took a third of all angels and spiritual beings with him, in the rebellion. (Rev. 12:4)

His desire and hatred toward God became manifest in his efforts to twist creation and form his own world with worshipers.

It’s my belief that when God created everything “Good”. Death and evil was created at the same time as a by product of life and good and was contained somewhere else. (Isa. 45:7)

That when Satan fell he became corrupted with this evil, and spread it like a plague. This is why evil exists. It is a by product. Like engine exhaust, or bodily waste from a good meal. It twists the good and poisons it.

This evil corrupts all it touches. It kills us spiritually and twists us, much like the walking dead zombies. That is why evil and death will finally be contained in the Lake of Fire, with Satan and those who follow him. The garbage dump of God.

Satan came to the Garden of Eden where the human Adam and his wife Eve were dwelling.

He deceived a serpent, and used it to corrupt the first couple. This serpent was most likely a dinosaur or dragon. (Gen. 3, Rev. 12:9)

He told them that God was not being honest with them. He was hiding something, and they themselves could be as gods also. He got them to doubt God’s Word and doubt His Goodness.

It is the same lie he tells people today, in many different forms.

Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and their eyes were opened. They saw their own nakedness. This caused them to hide from God and to try to fix the problem themselves by making aprons of leaves. (Gen. 3)

It’s the same thing we do when we sin. We hide from God and try to fix what is wrong with us by religion or drugs or education, or work or status.

But, the real answer is to turn to God and let Him save us and cleanse us.

By corrupting Adam, Satan worked to destroy the image of God and to make God’s own image a slave to him. God is not our enemy. Satan is, and he corrupts all that is good.

He took dominion of the Earth from Adam and has worked to corrupt it and control all kingdoms and all people to build his New World Order Kingdom of The Anti-Christ, ever since.

Humans are his slaves. (2 Cor. 4:4, Luke 4:17-21 )

When Adam fell, evil corrupted Him and has spread to all humans. This is our corrupted nature. This is why we sin. This is why we do the insane things we do. This is why we dwell in death.

Paul speaks of it, when He describes something inside of us that causes us to sin.

He says about sin, and his effort to do good.

“Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

¹⁸ For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.

¹⁹ For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.

²⁰ Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.“—-(Rom. 5: 12-21, Rom. 7:13-25)

I try to do right, but can’t. Something is wrong with me.

Satan uses this corruption to get us to rebel and wage war on God. He tempts our corrupted flesh and we fall destroying our selves. Killing ourselves. We abide in death. Slaves to Satan and this corruption.

He cannot hurt God, so He hurts us in order to attack God.

He uses us to destroy everything God has made for good.

The Creation. Gender. Marriage. Our Bodies. Relationships. Love. Blessings.

All of it broken and twisted because of his hatred for God. Whether the humans understand what they are doing or not. Satan and his demonic forces know exactly what they are doing.

The Bible continues with brother killing brother and things growing worse and worse in the world.

Satan and His fallen angels come to Earth and have sex with the women of the line of Cain, and giants are born unto them. It is believed this happened in the days of Jared. (Gen. 6:1-8, Gen. 5)

Corrupting humans even further. This happens because Satan stole dominion from Adam and is the ruler of this world. So, he came and took possession.

This evil spread. Our corruption and sinfulness spread like a plague. The line of Seth mingled with the line of Cain. Like the church mingling with the world.

But, Enoch knew the truth from Adam. He walked with God and put His faith in the Lord. He spread the truth, and was taken to be with God.

Enoch is a picture of Jesus Christ, who also went alive into heaven after delivering the truth of God, and setting us free. A light in the darkness.

Seeing the evil corrupting the Earth, God decides to destroy the Earth with a flood. He finds Noah, who is righteous and receives grace, because he walked with God like Adam and Enoch. He believed and trusted God. (Gen 6:8, Gen. 7:1, Heb. 11:5-7)

The corruption of evil. The hatred and insanity of Satan, and the wickedness of humans. Led to the destruction of the Earth by the Flood.

Did God really think that destroying the Earth with a Flood would stop sin? Did He think it would stop evil? Did He honestly believe this Flood would clear up the corruption?

Of course not. He’s God. But, the method for dealing with a corrupting plague according to God’s Word, is to wash it. Then set it aside to see if the plague returns, then if it does, to burn it with fire. (Leviticus 13:47-59)

Our body, our life, our world is but a tent. A garment we shed when we leave this earthly realm.

That’s where we are at in this world.

We are waiting to be burned or saved.

We are watching Satan, his fallen angels, demons and slave humans, along with the spirit of anti-christ, corrupting and destroying the creation and all things good from God.

Destroying the world with the love of money and building empires to control the globe.

While the saints, like Noah; try to spread the Gospel and save as many as possible from the fire to come.

We are corrupt. We are slaves to Satan. We sin. We have a fallen nature.

But, when we turn to the Lord Jesus, He sets us free, and saves us.

We become saints of God and our job is to save souls and restrain the evil with our love and service. We are to be salt and light, preserving this rotting piece of meat. Driving out the darkness, till He comes. (Matt. 5:13-16, Mark 16:15-18)

Do not fall for the same lies Satan used in the Garden. God is good, and we can trust His promises.

He is coming soon.

He wants us with Him.

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There Is No Condemnation

 There Is No Condemnation

 When we are walking with the Lord.

 

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, ………

Wait for it

Wait

let it sink in for a few minutes

Pay attention to how much it bothers you to just rest in Christ

Hold

Hold

Hold

Ok

……who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”–Romans 8:1

Your difficulty resting in Christ alone and waiting on the end of the verse shows your belief in a works based doctrine. You can’t wait to finish the verse and make yourself feel like you are doing the work. We can’t wait to condemn others, because we walk so holy. Right? We want to make sure they are walking rightly too. Right?

The fact is that when you are in Christ Jesus for real, you are walking in the Spirit. God is sanctifying you. It is not an effort on your part to fix yourself. Your job is to abide in Christ. To endure the growth and relationship He brings. To turn to Him. To not run away. To not think you are doing it all. To confess your sins daily and let Him cleanse you, washing your feet; because we get dirty walking in this world.

When you are saved, you are in Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit guides you in your walk in the Spirit with Him.

Not your efforts to stay holy or walking.

You are holy and walking when you are really saved.

Adam walked with God, in the cool of the day. It was a relationship and that is what God desires. To restore that relationship. He died for us and rose, to fix it. And all we must do is turn to Him and abide in Him.

Our flesh seeks to pull us away and get us to fear and doubt. The demons whisper into our minds and move things in our lives to get us living in the flesh and not walking in the Spirit.

We learn of this battle in Galatians chapter 5.

Our fleshly mind automatically thinks we need to quit sinning. But, the fact is that we will just sin in other ways. It doesn’t stop, it changes form and manifests differently. God has to work these things out of us.

We turn to God and abide in Him. Trust Him to protect us, help us and grow us. We confess our sins to Him, and He forgives us and cleanses us and works to change things in our lives, so we are walking right with Him. That is how we defeat sin in our lives. We remember that it was already defeated 2000 years ago, and it was defeated in our lives when we turned to the Lord to be saved. So, we turn to Him again and let Him guide us and cleanse us. He will show you.

When we fail. When we sin. Trouble can come into our lives. Galatians Chapter 6 speaks of reaping and sowing. We reap what we sow, whether good or bad, it comes back to us. Blessings or trouble.

When we Walk in the Spirit, we turn to God and let Him guide us in the good and bad. We let Him protect us and cleanse us and teach us through the bad or good. It doesn’t matter, all of it works together for our good because we are in Christ.

We are not condemned. We are in Christ and walking with Him, in the Spirit. We are growing in Him.

I pound this concept all the time. Because our flesh and reality wants us to fix it ourselves, or run from God.

That’s the worst thing.

This world draws us into it and tries to get us to forget God. The demons leave traps and give us great ideas, which lead to trouble. Our flesh desires, these things. We want the feeling it gives us, but hate the feeling of condemnation and guilt and shame we have because we give in to it.

Tell yourself out loud.

There is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.

Say it again

There is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.

Believe it. Trust God. Trust His promises.

There is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. I am saved in Jesus name!

Those feelings of guilt, fear and shame, are demons poking at your flesh to get you to run from God. Like Adam and Eve hid in the Garden. (Gen. 3)

Stand in the Armor of God. Stand on His promises. (Eph 6:10-18)

This is what Walking in the Spirit is about.

Abiding in Him.

When we continue to abide, and are led by the Holy Spirit, and grown by Him we will develop the Fruit of the Spirit, and they along with the Armor of God, and standing on God’s promises work to help us abide and serve.

All of it is about our salvation and growth in Him so He can save others, and grow the Kingdom, through us.

He helps us to abide as we walk with Him and have a relationship with Him. If you have ever met Jesus Christ, and been changed by Him, you cannot reject Him. You might deny. You might betray. You might sin and fear.

But, there is a truth inside of you that will not go away. It would be like rejecting your own child. You know the truth, and you know to turn to Him, like Peter did. Peter denied, but could not ignore the truth, and turned to Him again. (The Gospels)

The Lord will not let you go, if you know Him. He calls you, and seeks you like God in the Garden of Eden, (Gen. 3)

It’s part of the Walk. Growth. Recovery. Confession. Forgiveness. Failure. Again and again…

But, when we abide in Him and walk with Him there is no condemnation and all things work together for our good.

Praise Jesus.

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The Battle of Our Souls

 The Battle of Our Souls

 The Spirit battles against the flesh

 

This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

¹⁷ For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

¹⁸ But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.—Gal. 5:16-18

When we get saved, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us and starts working to grow us and sanctify us. He teaches us and helps us. He comforts us.

This creates change in our life. It brings brokenness and correction. It brings blessings. We see God moving and it strengthens our faith.

The Enemy does not want to let us go. Satan and his demonic forces have built relationships with us. They have built tunnels through our hedge of protection, where they can attack us and keep us in bondage. They have attached themselves to our backs and our minds.

These connections are severed at salvation, but the enemy quickly works to reestablish them. They attack and draw us through our flesh, eyes, desires and pride. Consider an addict who is constantly tempted to re-use and get addicted again. That is how the temptation looks in all the various ways. It is a lure to draw us into a trap. ( 1 John 2:16)

BUT… if we are saved we now have the Holy Spirit. He does the battle for us. Notice in the verse above, the word Spirit is capitalized. That means the Holy Spirit. Not our spirit. Our job in this battle is to abide in the Lord. Our job is to Walk in the Spirit.

Do not let the battle drive us away from Christ. (John 15:3-8)

The Holy Spirit is moving and things are happening in our lives. We are being tempted to run from God. Like the Israelites wanted to return to Egypt. We want to go back to our old ways. We want to quit, because we fail and it’s hard and things are scary.

But, it is part of the spiritual battle behind the scenes to grow us and correct us and get us to a better place in life where we can serve. Like the Israelites through the desert to the promised land.

We must remember that we are fallen. We are corrupt. This is very important because it explains why we cannot save ourselves or help in the battle. God gives us His grace and we cannot help. He has saved us and is waging the battle. There is no way we can do it without making matters worse. Look at the end of verse 17 above. “You cannot do the things that you would.” No matter how hard you try to do good, you will fail. You will sin. But, it’s ok. The battle is the Lord’s, not yours. You are already victorious in Christ. We are not under the law, if we are Walking in the Spirit.

We are to Walk with the Lord in the Spirit. We abide in Him.

The verse above says that if we Walk in the Spirit we will not fulfill the lust of the flesh, and we are not under the law.

What does this mean?

Well, when we are saved the enemy will attack us and tempt us to get us to fail. He will try to re-open those pathways into our lives. The Holy Spirit will point out the temptation often times, and we might struggle to resist. We might succeed. But, the temptation will return. It’s never a one and done.

We might fail next time.

But, the battle is not ours. it is the Holy Spirit’s battle.

So, we Walk in the Spirit. Which means, we pray for help. We pray God’s Word against the attacks of the enemy. We wear the armor of God, and when we fail we confess our sin to Him, and He forgives us and cleanses us. (1 John 1:8-10, Eph 6:10-18)

It is not our battle. We are saved. We are to just abide and remain in relationship with the Lord.

That is walking in the Spirit. We stay focused on the Lord. Abiding in Him, and not letting the enemy drag us away.

The enemy is a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. The demons tempt us and tempt us and whisper lies into our minds, and when we sin they speak condemnation and fear into our minds. (1 Peter 5:8)

This is designed to chase us from God.

When a lion roars in the jungle it scares the young ,old and sick. It causes them to run away from the safety of the herd. Likewise, Satan seeks to drive us from God. Not to lose salvation, but to get us trapped in more sin, and keep us from turning to the Lord and confessing to Him.

Like Adam and Eve hid, when they sinned.

Like the parable of the sower. The things of this world will drive us from God. Whether good things or bad things. We are tempted to forget God or hide from Him, or turn from Him, back to our old life. (Matt. 13)

God is our only hope. He is our Rock. When we turn from Him, we are like the prodigal son who will face trouble we cannot fix until we return to God. God is our only source of Life. Abiding in Him, is walking with Him in the Spirit. (Luke 15: 11-32)

Remember, ” All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”– Romans 8:28

When we are saved, God is working in our life. The Holy Spirit is working in our life. He is with us and He is fighting the Battle. That means that all victories, all failure, all attacks, all sins, all correction, all of it, is working for our good.

It is being used to mold us into the finest soldier for the Lord.

Like silver being boiled to remove the dross, to make it pure. We face the fires of this life, and attacks of the enemy, and grace of God and it all is used by the Holy Spirit to grow us. (Mal. 3:2-4)

If we abide in Him. If we Walk in the Spirit. If we are saved.

James said, “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.“– Jas 1:12

It doesn’t say “overcomes temptation”.

It means endures or remains with God in the temptation. Enduring means to Walk in the Spirit. The Bible does not contradict itself. So, we compare this verse with Walking in the Spirit.

James goes on “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.

¹⁵ Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.”

The enemy tempts our flesh. He tempts our minds. He seeks out the things that he knows are already there because he has known us from birth. He and his demons have worked to create and build those lusts in us. Those are the tunnels and attachments spoken of earlier.

All of us have sins that we are more apt to commit than others. Some people are drawn to theft. Some people are drawn to sex. Some are drawn to violence. Some have many things mixed.

The enemy works to draw us away from God through these means. Not for a loss of salvation, but to keep us down and unable to fight the fight of faith.

Notice the steps James gives for sin and death. We decide to do it. Then, we do it. Then, it leads to death.

But, When we walk in the Spirit sin is not FULFILLED and we are not under the Law. (See the verse at the top)

This path to death is never fulfilled. If we sin, we confess it and we are forgiven and washed clean.

That is part of Walking in the Spirit. That is how we abide in Him and not run away because we believe the lies that God is mad at us or can never forgive us. We instead turn to Him. We confess it to Him. We make no promises, because we cannot keep them. We give it to Him in truth.

The Holy Spirit fights the fight. We turn and confess, and keep turning and confessing. We pray and wear the armor, and speak the Word. And we discover over time that we are no longer doing the things we once did. We discover we have been blessed and God fought the battle for us while we just endured and remained in Him.

We are called to be soldiers bringing light into the dark world. We cannot do that if we are constantly worried about our sins or trying to resist temptation. It is not our battle. It is His.

We just abide in Him. Walk with Him. Love others and serve Him.

That’s a big battle in itself.

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